Despite the weak economy and inconclusive climate talks in Durban, South Africa, global investors are bringing unprecedented attention to climate change and its wide-ranging risks and opportunities for investment portfolios.

On 12 January 2012 nearly 500 of the world’s investors and most powerful financial players will gather at the United Nations to showcase their actions and discuss promising trends to catalyze the large-scale investment needed to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate potentially catastrophic climate impacts.

Investors are pouring more money than ever into the clean energy sector with total investment recently topping the $1 trillion mark since 2004. The US solar industry experienced more growth in third quarter 2011 than it did in all of 2009. And leading investors are moving more decisively to price the risks and opportunities of climate change into their holdings and to develop creative financing mechanisms that encourage energy efficiency and address water and resource scarcity.

Sponsored by Ceres, the United Nations Foundation and the United Nations Office for Partnerships, the Investor Summit on Climate Risk & Energy Solutions, the event comes on the heels of Durban as carbon emissions are rising sharply, and a new UN report shows strong linkages between climate change and extreme weather events that are causing far-reaching business ripples.

Ceres is an advocate for sustainability leadership. It leads a national coalition of investors, environmental groups and other public interest organizations working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change and water scarcity. Ceres also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a network of 100 institutional investors with collective assets totaling about $10 trillion.

The UN Foundation was created in 1998 after entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s gave a historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation builds and implements public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems and also works to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach. The UN Foundation is a public charity. For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.

The United Nations Office for Partnerships serves as a gateway for collaboration between the private sector, foundations, and the United Nations family. It promotes new partnerships and alliances in furtherance of the Millennium Development Goals and provides support to new initiatives of the Secretary-General. UNOP oversees the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) and Partnership Advisory Services and Outreach to a variety of entities.